Hmm. I wonder which one of Bruce's "we" personas passed away? I'm sure the surviving Brucii attended the funeral. I wonder how they felt about him.

Rosebud.

Nicely done, Nate, nicely done.:)

+1

He's busy hunting down that Archive guy in the afterlife...


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May Bruce find peace...I sincerely hope that he has. And may all of the segments of his collection that are being auctioned find truly appreciative new owners.

BTW - I understand that he was abrasive to some of the members of this board...downright abusive, if I read correctly. Having said this, I agree with those who posit that slamming him after his passing accomplishes nothing positive.

There's an auction coming up, ladies and gentlemen. Should we be talking about the material being offered for sale, or quibbling over personal opinions regarding the previous owner?

Best,

Eric

Quibbling over personal opinions regarding the previous owner. Definitely.

Re: Bruce Dorskind's Collection
 

"There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.
When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies"

-Martin Luther King




ErikV

Bruce .....
 

may he rest in peace.....I did not have any dealings with Mr. Bruce, nor did I know him, but I have read his posts in the past.....either way anyone feels about this gentleman, it looks like he left quite an impression on the hobby, even in the afterlife......that says a lot for the person he was....I try not to post on these subjects too much, I try to find the positive in people no matter what.....I believe Mr. Bruce had/has a passion for the hobby we all treasure so much, and that is an intangible that no cardboard can replace....RIP Bruce D. Americas Toughest Wantlist:)

+1. Well said Ryan. I escaped the angry death threat and other nasty emails but I was upset with how my friends on this Board were treated by Bruce. When I read Bruce's comments about the only important thing in life to him was not friends, but pieces of cardboard, I think about It's a Wonderful Life when Jimmy Stewart receives the book with the inscription that no man is a failure who has friends. Sadly Bruce may have rejoiced in his collection but never realized how much more important it is to have friends...

I let a friend at work borrow a CD from me, Chick Corea's Friends. Later that day, the same friend sent me an email pointing out this passage from the CD's liner notes. Posted here as it seems appropriate, and falls in line with tbob's comment above...

I suspect that comment was just made for effect, given that Bruce obviously had many friends as evident from the link I posted before.

Peter,

First, I'm not entirely convinced that page is legit and not something Bruce concocted himself. For the sake of not wanting to be that jaded, let's say it's real. The thing that struck me was that most of these people hadn't kept in touch with Bruce in years and were basing their positive experiences on who he was 20 years ago. Maybe he was different years ago. It's intriguing.

I began to wonder (and I'm actually saying this from a place of compassion and seeking to understand, not as a joke or a dig on Bruce) if it might have been possible that he actually had some kind of brain issue, a physiological one (tumor? trauma?) that altered his brain in a way that somehow created a compartmentalized psychopathic/sociopathic persona that was limited only to his online interactions with people. As if it was impossible for him to view people online as actual human beings. Maybe it got worse and worse over the years. Clearly from what most board members who met him or spent any time with him person say, he was a completely different guy in person. Maybe some people shoot people at random from a clocktower, and others threaten people and their families on baseball card chat boards.

I realize it sounds like I'm playing armchair headshrinker, but it's not even a theory I'm proposing, just something I thought about after seeing that tribute page. It's actually nice to read positive things about him from people who had absolutely no idea who he was in our community.

I also wondered what any of those people would think if they did a google search for "Bruce Dorskind." Would they be shocked to learn of how insanely and horribly he treated people in his "hobby." Or do they know about that side of him and chalk it up to him being "eccentric" or "complicated"?

I guess we'll never really know, and I suppose it doesn't really matter. I just found that link to be interesting, whatever it means. None of that changes the fact that he died alone. He was proud of the fact that his cards and memorabilia gave him the same joy (in his mind) and sense of fulfillment that the rest of us suckers mainly get from raising our children and spending time with our families. I think it's tragic that anyone could leave this world THAT alone, regardless of how awful he was to people and the fact that he chose that for himself.

Anyway, that's all I have to say about Mr. Dorskind. And that's all the energy I care to expend on thinking about him.

-Ryan

Interesting thoughts Ryan. I think that somehow he probably changed over the last years of his life. He surely wasn't the person in all of those memorials which we knew. From day one that I knew him I always thought he suffered from Extremely Low Self Esteem. I thought that was the root of his issues. We'll never know but maybe he is at peace now because he didn't seem to be by the way he acted towards our members and myself.

No Change
 

I'm sorry to say Bruce was pretty much the same over time. I knew him for
25+ years and he was pretty much the same all the way through. A unique person but unfortunately very angry for reasons unknown to myself. I do find it distasteful to attack the dead similar to the Rick Kohl thread I read but I understand if I don't agree.

Bruce was hot and cold, at times nice to me and at times really went out of his way to hurt me in surprisingly powerful ways even though I never did anything to him. Still I was always friendly to him regardless. I don't hate him because I see/saw a guy in a lot of pain and there was nothing I could do to make his lot in life any worse than what he brought upon himself. BTW, I am pretty sure that internet site is the real thing and was happy to see that he had one hobby friend in Corey Shanus.

Bruce was simply a social misfit which has been pointed out fluently in this thread. But aren't most of us here social misfits in some way(s)? Either now and/or in the past? Christ, we buy, sell and trade baseball and sports s***t in our spare or full times and love it. I suggest we cut each other and ourselves a break here and there. Including someone like Bruce Dorskind.

Post/opinion no longer available

I've never dealt with Bruce D, but I recall reading his responses in many threads and I would only summarize some of his responses as tragically sad.

I believe if there is anything that can be gleaned from this experience is that our reputations outlive us. Whether it is appropriate to pile on someone after they die can be debated endlessly, but how you remember someone who has passed on can't be easily erased.

I've met my fair share of collectors the past 25 years who've pulled some off some shameless stunts and cut-throat maneuvers in order to gain some advantage over myself and other collectors. How collectors like that live with themselves and take pride in their collections is incomprehensible in my opinion.

Fortunately I've also met many more decent people and made many good friends in this hobby and for that I am very grateful.

I once read an article about the characteristics of narcissism, and when I finished it hit me that everything I read described Bruce perfectly. He had serious emotional issues and I guess he was never willing or able to own up to them. I think he saw himself as perfect, and when I once asked him if he had feelings of low self esteem he told me he loved himself. True story.

I think it's possible he just enjoyed being an a-hole.

An interesting dichotomy where someone can apparently be SO different with one group and another. IF the sentiments on the web page are correct. Maybe he was bipolar or schizophrenic.....or like Dan said.....just enjoyed being an a-hole. We'll never know.

I often imagined that he was teased and bullied as a child, and as he got older and independent, he turned into a bully himself. And the internet was the perfect vehicle- you can say anything to anybody as long as they are a thousand miles away. Of course, I never saw him being abusive when he was face to face with anyone. He was always courteous.

Whatever it was, he didn't seem to want to address it. He was successful in business and built a nice collection, and that's all that seemed to matter.

.....

Human beings are complex. My two cents, it's inappropriate to try to posthumously psychoanalyze Bruce over the internet and find a DSM-IV (or is it now V?) category for him.

It may not be appropriate, but it is cheap entertainment, and funnier than shit.:D

Talking About The Dead
 

"My young son asked me what happens after we die. I told him we get buried under a bunch of dirt and worms eat our bodies. I guess I should have told him the truth--that most of us go to hell and burn for eternity-- but I did not want to upset him".....Jack Handy

Gran Torino.

Jeff, you very well may be on to something, or your friend for that matter. I have a family member that suffers from BPD (Borderline personality disorder) and it would certainly fit the bill. They can be the nicest & meanest family member depending on what the situation is. I hope Bruce finds more happiness in the afterlife than he did in life.

Bruce shared his baseball knowledge readily, and to the best of my knowledge, never held back providing information to those who requested it, or help them with their questions. In short, by his actions, he was a positive influence to many in the hobby, in contrast to those who commit acts of fraud while oozing charm in the process.

By his words, I recognize that to recipients of his vile emails, he was a different person. I also recognize that not having received such emails, I have not walked in the shoes of those who had. But Bruce is dead, and we already have had one long thread where people vented. I respectfully think it is time to move on.

Beats working.

I see a lot of Bruce's collection in the REA catalog. Just FYI

A lot of it is not there. Perhaps it is being saved for a later sale.

they probably just misplaced the consignments, been known to happen lately.

Knock on wood, we've never misplaced a consignment yet! Barry, what items are you looking for that you do not see? (I am assuming you are not looking for things he sold in years past which as you know is quite a lot). His inventory lists were INCREDIBLY comprehensive and detailed (in part for insurance purposes). We worked with the estate directly from his own inventory spreadsheets that listed every single card and item, with each spread sheet organized by type of item (cards, display pieces, books, sheet musics, postcards etc). There are a few things that may be on the Internet Only section, but just a few. Some items are in group lots that you will only be able to see all images and descriptions when the auction is up online. Can you give me an example of an item you are looking for?

Hi Rob- I actually have a complete list of Bruce's collection that he gave me before he died, and there is so much I don't see from that list. Maybe because the catalog is so big, I simply missed it. One example- Bruce had numerous DeLongs in PSA-8, and you do have several 8's in the auction. But his players and your players don't match. I'll continue to look though. He also had a beautiful team cabinet of Brooklyn ca. 1888 I don't see. Well, you know the collection better than I do.:)

Edited to add maybe he did in fact sell a lot privately before you got the collection.

Have you checked with Archive? I hear he and Bruce were quite close .

Leon I actually burst out laughing at work (not the best thing to do obviously), at your comment

Hi Barry! It sounds like you’ve got an old list (or one that was not cleaned up to reflect all changes). He sold a lot of items over the years (at REA and elsewhere) and probably did quite a bit of wheeling and dealing with DeLongs. I think over the years he tried to narrow his DeLongs to just a few favorites. For example, he sold twenty-five (Twenty-Five!) DeLongs at REA in 2004 (Lot 97 was a pair of PSA 8 DeLongs, Lot 189 was a group of 16, and Lot 190 was a PSA-graded collection of seven). He may have sold or traded others elsewhere but we also know he sold two PSA 8 Delongs at Greg Bussineaus’s 7/25/13 auction (Traynor and Martin Lots 40 and 41). All that were left were a representative group of four (I assume his favorites) all graded PSA 8 (Lots 621, 623, 624, and 625: #4 Terry, #14 Gomez, #1 McManus, and #22 Klein).

He sold an 1889 Brooklyn Team cabinet at REA in 2004 (Lot 25) but you might be thinking of his 1890 Brooklyn Players’ League Cabinet with John Ward (which was a favorite that he kept) which is Lot 58 in the current auction (which we hope to get up today!) What he had at the end was only a portion of all the items he once had, but was still very substantial and tremendous high quality across the board.

Rob- my memory is not what it used to be, but I saw his stuff about a year before he died, and the list he sent me was put together well after that. But you're right that maybe he never updated it and forgot to remove items he sold. So I'll assume you got everything that was left at the time it was consigned. The Brooklyn cabinet looked like a Joseph Hall, but without the names at the bottom. Perhaps he sold it a while ago and didn't even remember. Bruce was not the easiest person to deal with, at least for me.

Actually they had a falling out after Bruce sued him.:)

Rob- I just rechecked my list and it reads "1890 Brooklyn Players League Team Cabinet." If that's the one in your current auction then I mixed it up with the one from 2004. Like I said, it's hard to keep track of everything.

Barry, Good news: Your memory is better than you think! The Brooklyn cabinet he sold in 2004 (Lot 25) does look a lot like a Joseph Hall.

Here's the link:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...n/2004/25.html

Thanks Rob, but I actually still have all your catalogs dating back to 1995. Funny, he sold it ten years ago and yet I thought I saw it in his collection in the past couple of years.